Good-bye Purées

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how we’d started Asher on solids. Well, after a week of making purées and attempting to get a spoon into Asher’s mouth I decided that we’d hold off for a few days and try again.

Except I really didn’t want to make purées. I discovered that I really don’t like to make them as they’re too much work. Am I just lazy? And I’m too frugal to buy them in the store (and the store bought ones just don’t taste good anyway).

I decided to take a leap into something that’s not very well-known yet: Baby-led weaning. Yes, in some ways it goes against what I believe in making decisions for my young son who can’t make his own decisions very well yet. But in other ways it lines up with our lifestyle well, and it just makes sense to not feed our son purées.

So what is baby-led weaning? Basically, we skip purées all together and go straight to finger foods and what mum and dad are eating. Yes, some planning is involved so that our meals are “baby friendly…” For example, I might have roasted carrots and parsnips for dinner so that Asher can have some or cut food in a way that Asher can grab easily with his developing dexterity (i.e.: the sticks of roasted parsnip Asher is trying out above).

One thing I have to get used to is that baby-led weaning is messy! Food is for play and exploration at this point, so lots of food just gets squished and eventually ends up on the floor. It’s a good thing we have laminate floors!

Asher’s not learned to eat a lot either. It’s a slow process, and it’s all according to Asher’s lead (hence the baby-led aspect of weaning). Again I have to be reminded that food is for play and exploration at this point. :) Although, it helps that Asher is teething right now so everything gets sucked on anyway! It must be a good way to get him to try new foods.

We are very much enjoying watching Asher explore and grow while he’s learning to eat! Hopefully I’ll continue sharing our baby-led weaning adventures with you in the future…

…And eventually Asher will figure out how to get the water out of his sippy cup on his own! :)